Marvin Fong, Plain Dealer fileCuyahoga County commissioners, at a meeting last year, rehired two accountants from the auditor's office.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County commissioners will break their own rules Thursday by rehiring two accountants one week after the workers took taxpayer-financed buyouts.

The two buyouts will cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, amounting to three years of pension contributions. And under their new one-year deals, the accountants will collect salaries totaling $170,000 while also drawing on their publicly subsidized pensions.

Thursday's expected vote by commissioners will be the county's second controversial hiring decision in a month. The Plain Dealer reported last week that Auditor Frank Russo hired four commercial appraisers from a company whose lawyers admitted paying more than $1 million in bribes to get a contract from the auditor.

"We hate to make exceptions," Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said of hiring the accountants, "but I think this one is an absolutely justifiable one, both in terms of function and of cost."

County officials said they could not afford to lose the expertise of Steve Letsky, the former accounting director for the auditor's office, and Cheryl Arslanian, a fiscal controller for the auditor, and they could not deny them buyouts.

But a labor attorney said federal law would allow the county to deny buyouts to people holding important positions.

"You could not distinguish say, based on some prohibited characteristic," said attorney Frank Buck with the Cleveland firm of Littler Mendelson. "But you certainly could distinguish based on the job title and functional need."

Russo offered the buyout to all employees within three years of being eligible for maximum pension benefits.

Countywide, about 900 employees signed up for the program, announced in 2008 to cut costs. Under county rules, officials were forbidden to rehire or replace those workers.

But in the year between the program's announcement and the two accountants' retirement on Jan. 14, the auditor did not sufficiently train other workersto fill the spots, said Destin Ramsey, the auditor's chief operating officer.

"It was too much of a hit and too much of a learning curve to bring somebody in," Ramsey said.

"This kind of revolving door of employment is unfair," Turcer said. "It also highlights the need to better prepare all employees for transitions. At any point, one of us may win the lottery or get hit by a bus. It's sad to think that the county is so badly prepared."

Administrator James McCafferty said the county considered hiring a consultant, but that contract would cost the county more than rehiring the two employees.

Arslanian, 49, a Democratic precinct committee member, will earn $69,000. In addition, she was paid $31,000 in unused sick and vacation time when she retired.

Letsky, 59, will earn $101,000. He was paid $49,000 in unpaid sick and vacation time.

Both will return to work Feb. 1 and remain until their contracts end in January 2011, said Human Resources Director Deborah Southerington.

Their pensions could start by March, McCafferty said. Based on a state formula, that could be as much as $46,000 annually for Arslanian and $66,000 for Letsky.

The accountants will report to commissioners and will work daily with Deloitte & Touche, the firm hired by state Auditor Mary Taylor to certify the county's books.

The state has not yet released the county's 2007 and 2008 audits because of corruption-related questions about the county's finances. And already the delay has cost the county tens of thousands of dollars in higher interest payments to borrow for construction projects.

The wait could cost the county much more if the audits aren't certified before officials borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to build a proposed medical mart complex downtown.

"The Deloitte & Touche audits not being released do play a role in them coming back," Ramsey said. "They've been working with the state and Deloitte & Touche for decades. That is essential."

In addition to working to certify the county's books, Letsky will help state auditors with a performance audit and county workers with their switch to a charter government with an elected executive and county council.

Jones said Russo should have prepared other employees to take over the accountants' duties.

"It's a task that needs to get performed," he said. "It's a task that needs to be funded."

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